11 CHAPTER
LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT
AND PROCEDURES
SUMMARY OF KEY CONCEPTS
Section 1. The Successful
Law Office
A successful law office:
serves its clients effectively and efficiently;
upholds ethical standards and brings credit
to the legal profession; and,
provides professional satisfaction and a
reasonable economic reward for its owners,
managers, and employees.
Most attorneys and paralegals work in law firms
that represent a variety of outside clients. In addi-
tion to meeting the three criteria above, a law firm
usually seeks professional prestige in the legal com-
munity. A stellar av rating by professional peers
in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory is a prized
achievement. A socially responsible firm will divert
some portion of its profits into pro bono legal serv-
ices for the community and the less fortunate.
In a corporate law office, there is only one
clientthe corporation. Corporate legal depart-
ments must justify their existence, so the quality of
their services is equally important in that environ-
ment. Often, the in-house counsel is able to mini-
mize outside legal costs by providing legal advice
at less cost, but also by managing the use of out-
side firms and carefully reviewing their bills.
Similar to a corporation, the law office in most
public agencies has a single client. It, too, will con-
centrate upon the three essential traits of a suc-
cessful practice. However, because it is supported
by tax dollars and is established to serve the pub-
lic well-being, it should not confine its efforts to
the narrow parochial interests of the agency. Some
public agencies are, in effect, public law firms: of-
fices of the attorney general, county counsel, city
attorney, district attorney, public defender, etc. A
unique office is that of the public defender. Unlike
other government attorneys, they have a single
client and dutyto vigorously represent the de-
fendant in a criminal case.
Regardless of the setting, a successful law
practice almost always rests upon the following
key factors:
dedicated and qualified professionals;
effective law office organization;
sound attorney-client relationships; and,
efficient law office procedures.
Qualified, hard-working individuals who perform
their tasks in a professional manner are the most im-
portant single factor in the successful law practice.
For that reason, it is vital that they be treated with
respect and that they have the support they need to
perform well. A reputation for high professional
standards and enlightened management will, by
STUDY GUIDE  241
word-of-mouth, draw outstanding candidates for
law firm positions.
Generally speaking, paralegals are at-will em-
ployees of the firm or corporation. That means
that they may be dismissed at any time without
cause or explanation. Also, they are free to leave at
any time. Unless state law requires otherwise, an
at-will employment relationship may be termi-
nated by either party without any advance notice.
There are four circumstances when employment
will not be at-will:
when a statute prohibits some form of
discriminatory dismissal;
when public policy does not permit arbitrary
dismissal;
when the employee and the employer have
agreed upon an indefinite period of
employment, with termination to be for
cause only; or,
when the employee and the employer have
agreed upon a fixed period of employment,
with termination to be for cause only.
Both state and federal statutes forbid employers
from discharging employees for discriminatory
reasons (e.g., race, gender, disability, etc.). These
statutes modify the at-will employment. Even with-
out a statutory protection, the states common law
public policy might not permit an employer to dis-
charge an employee for some reasons (e.g., a
whistleblower who reports his employers illegal
conduct).
The employer might establish an implied con-
tract that modifies the at-will relationship. This can
happen when the employer establishes a fixed pe-
riod of probationary employment, during which
the employee may be let go without explanation. By
implication, satisfactory completion of the proba-
tion period means that the employee is no longer a
probationary employee. The same effect can result
if the employer publishes a personnel policy which
provides that employees will be dismissed for spec-
ified causes (e.g., dishonesty, unsatisfactory per-
formance, excessive absenteeism, etc.).
Many employers are advised by their attor-
neys to publish a comprehensive personnel man-
ual, which governs the working conditions, bene-
fits, and employment relationship. This is advised
so that their personnel actions cannot be chal-
lenged as arbitrary. A consequential effect, how-
ever, is to create an implied employment contract
that can limit their personnel actions.
Every law firm should carry professional liabil-
ity insurance, also known as an errors and omis-
sions policy. These policies usually cover all em-
ployees of the firm, including paralegals. The basic
purpose of such policies is to protect the attorney
from claims of legal malpractice, but they might
cover other claims that arise in the course of prac-
ticing law.
The ability of a law office to provide the high-
est quality of professional services, and its ability
to function within a budget, are both impacted by
the way that the office is organized and managed.
Even corporate and government law offices must
operate within a budget. In the past, small law
firms tended to be legal general stores for indi-
viduals and small businesses. In recent years, how-
ever, they have tended to specialize in one or two
areas of practice.
Sole practitioners are thought of as individual
attorneys who practice alone in a small office, sup-
ported perhaps by two or three employees. Many
sole practitioners, however, share a suite of offices
with other attorneys, so that a single receptionist,
law library, and word processor can serve them all.
They share these overhead costs, but not their prac-
tices or profits. In this arrangement, a legal assistant
might be employed by the attorney-landlord, but
perform work on a contract basis for the other at-
torneys, as well.
An attorney can be a sole proprietor of his
practice without being a sole practitioner. This is
made possible by employing associate attorneys
to work under his general supervision. The
attorney/proprietor must pay all overhead costs,
as well as the salaries of the associates, but he will
keep all profits to himself.
A law partnership can exist with as few as two
or three partners. In small partnerships, the
decision-making process tends to be collegial.
Partners receive a share of the firm profits, but em-
ployed associate attorneys do not. Partnership in-
terests need not be equal. Any combination of eq-
uity interests which adds up to 100% is possible.
In partnerships of a dozen or so, one partner is
usually designated as the managing partner. Most
often, this is one of the senior partners who has
paid his dues in building the partnerships prac-
tice. The managing partner is responsible for the
day-to-day operations of the office and might also
supervise the associate attorneys.
As the size of the firm grows, the role of the
managing partner may become more important.
She may have some responsibility for managing
the law practice of the firm by assigning junior
partners and associates to handle various client
matters. An alternative arrangement is the execu-
tive committee composed of a small number of
242
senior partners. In very large firms, there might be
a variety of committees handling specific aspects
of the business and law practice.
Both sole practitioners and partnerships can
incorporate their practice as a professional law
corporation (PC). As mentioned in Chapter 2, a pro-
fessional corporation can have individual attor-
neys, attorney partnerships, and even smaller
professional law corporations among its stock-
holders. The primary advantage of the professional
corporation is to limit the personal liability of the
stockholders for the debts of the corporation. A
creditor can only claim assets of the corporation,
not of its individual attorney-stockholders. In some
states, alternatives to the professional corporation
are the limited liability partnership (LLP) and the
limited liability company (LLC). These two latter
forms combine the tax advantages of a partnership
with the liability limitations of a corporation.
A corporate legal department is completely
different from the professional law corporation de-
scribed previously. It is simply one of many de-
partments in a non-legal corporation. Several
types of enterprises are especially likely to main-
tain their own corporate legal departmentsthose
frequently sued, and those which require a sub-
stantial amount of legal services in the ordinary
course of business. Corporations involved in liti-
gation generally retain outside legal counsel to rep-
resent them in court, but often use their corporate
legal department for:
responding to discovery requests;
coordinating litigation matters with outside
counsel;
reviewing (and questioning) bills presented
by the outside counsel; and,
advising management on ways to avoid future
lawsuits.
An attorney from the corporate legal department
might also sit second chair during the trial.
Corporations generally designate one attor-
ney to serve as general counsel. The general coun-
sel can be the head of the corporate legal depart-
ment, or can be an outside attorney retained for
that purpose. An in-house general counsel often
holds the rank of vice president. In addition to ad-
vising management and coordinating with outside
counsel, legal departments often monitor devel-
opments in legislation and government rule-mak-
ing, and may coordinate the corporations lobby-
ing efforts. Legal assistants in corporate legal
departments assume a wide variety of responsi-
bilities. A key role is preparing and maintaining
CHAPTER 11  Law Office Management and Procedures
the official documents and records of the corpo-
ration, including:
corporate by-laws;
minutes of directors meetings;
resolutions adopted by the board of
directors;
stock registration statements;
shareholder records;
notices of shareholder meetings;
proxy statements; and,
stock option plans.
Another legal assistant in the corporate legal de-
partment might have totally different responsibili-
ties, such as coordinating with outside counsel
and responding to discovery requests. Paralegals
typically have the hands-on task of monitoring
pending legislation and rule-making.
Public agency legal departments serve pur-
poses for those agencies that are very similar to
the purposes of a corporate legal department
litigation and routine legal services being the pri-
mary purposes. Public agencies, particularly small
ones, sometimes retain outside law firms to serve
as their primary legal counsel, the equivalent of a
corporations general counsel. Larger agencies
usually have an in-house chief counsel.
In most law offices, paralegals and legal secre-
taries are part of the legal team that provides serv-
ices for clients. In larger offices, the legal team
might include law clerks, legal librarians, and para-
legal managers. The ultimate responsibility for co-
ordinating the team effort rests with the attorney
responsible for that client matter. In large-scale lit-
igation, a senior firm partner may serve as the at-
torney of record and supervise partners and asso-
ciates who work on the case.
In many large law firms, other non-attorney pro-
fessionals play a major role. These include paralegal
managers, law office managers, and legal adminis-
trators. Law office managers generally supervise
the office support staffreceptionists, secretaries,
word processors, file clerks, etc. Legal administra-
tors assume even more responsibilities, such as tak-
ing on a role similar to a managing partner, other
than managing the firms practice of law.
Earlier chapters discussed the attorney-client
relationship as it relates to privileged communica-
tions, ethical obligations to the client, and the
clients right to legal counsel. Another important
aspect is the professional and business
relationshiphow legal services are provided to
the client and how the client pays for those serv-
ices. Certainly, ethical obligations are part of the
STUDY GUIDE  243
professional relationship. Effective communica-
tion and mutual trust are at the heart of a sound at-
torney-client relationship. Mutual trust is essential
so that the communication is open and forthright.
When a client retains an attorney, it is custom-
ary, and required in some jurisdictions, that the at-
torney and client sign a retainer agreement that
identifies the legal matter for which the attorney is
being retained and sets forth the fees the client
agrees to pay. Some law firms work on a contin-
gency fee basis, which means that the law firm re-
ceives nothing unless the client recovers money. If
the clients case is lost, the client owes nothing,
and the law firm receives nothing. The contingency
fee is usually a fixed percentage of any monetary
award won in court or negotiated in a settlement.
The most common fee arrangement is based on
hourly rates for the attorneys and paralegals who
work on the case. The client is then billed monthly
for the time these professionals have spent on that
client matter. Hourly rates for paralegals vary
widely with their experience and qualifications, and
also among different regions of the nation. Some law
firms have annual quotas for the hours billed by
each legal professional. These quotas are generally
in the range of 1400 to 1800 hours per year for para-
legals, but there appears to be an upward trend in
those expectations. Unlike attorneys, paralegals
cannot become rainmakers, bringing in new client
business. Instead, they are dependent upon attor-
neys for their assignments.
Most law firms keep time records in increments
of six minutes. That is considered a unit of time
and is the minimum which will be billed for any task,
such as a short phone call. Other firms use units of
ten minutes, and a few very large firms bill in units
of fifteen minutes. The larger the billing unit, the
easier it is to meet a given quota of billable hours.
Whether kept the old fashioned way on pa-
per time sheets, or entered in the computer as the
legal assistant completes each discrete task on
client matters, the units of time and the corre-
sponding task descriptions are fed into the firms
computerized billing system. After the close of the
month, it usually takes a week or two to prepare a
statement for mailing to the client. The prepara-
tion includes these stages:
a billing clerk consolidates all billed time for
each client matter;
a tentative itemization of billed time is
printed;
the responsible attorney reviews and corrects
the itemization; and,
a final itemization is printed with a summary
of all fees and costs.
A critical part of this process is the attorneys re-
view of the tentative itemization for billed time.
The attorney might revise the description so that
it is more understandable to the client, and to re-
flect the professional nature of the task. The attor-
ney might also write off (i.e., delete) or write
down (reduce) some of the time billed by attor-
neys or paralegals. Any time written off will either
not appear on the clients statement, or will appear
with a no charge notation.
The billing clerk also consolidates all of the
firm expenses which are chargeable to the client.
These typically include:
long distance telephone charges;
Westlaw or LEXIS online fees;
postage and messenger fees;
court filing fees and recording fees;
photocopies; and,
mileage and parking fees.
Some firms also charge a flat fee for facsimile
transmissions.
From time to time, an attorney might receive
funds on behalf of clients that are then held tem-
porarily for the benefit of the client. These funds
may be from litigation settlements, insurance set-
tlements, escrow funds in real estate transactions,
the corpus (i.e., principal amount) of a trust, etc.
As a fiduciary, the attorney holds these client
funds in trust. The bank account where they are
held must be a client trust account, and the funds
may never be commingled with the law firms
funds, nor used by it for any purpose.
The client, the law firm, and the departing at-
torney are presented with a dilemma when an at-
torney decides to leave the firm to strike out on his
own or to join a different firm. This circumstance is
becoming more common as many firms, for eco-
nomic reasons, restrict the opportunity for an as-
sociate to make partner status in that firm.
The answer to the dilemma boils down to three
questions:
Is it the firms client, or the attorneys client?
Does an attorney breach his fiduciary duty to
his former firm if he takes clients with him?
What are the rights of the client?
In ethical terms, the last question is the most impor-
tant. The short answers to all three questions are:
The client doesnt belong to either the firm
or the attorney.
Although the departing attorney may have
fiduciary duties to his former law firm, those
244
duties cannot override the clients right to
choose his own attorney.
The customer is king (or queen, as the case
might be).
The client may decide to stay with the firm, go with
the departing attorney, or find other legal counsel.
If he goes with the departing attorney, or chooses
a new counsel, the law firm must forward all of his
client files to that attorney.
Section 2. Effective Law Office
Procedures
One indicator of good law office management is the
use of sound office procedures. Effective law office
procedures will serve these purposes:
the efficient and economical delivery of client
legal services;
compliance with all statutes of limitations and
court deadlines;
the protection of client confidences;
positive working relationships with persons
outside of the office;
an atmosphere of order and structure in the
workplace; and,
smooth working relationships within the office.
It is the use of sound procedures that makes these
things possible. It does no good if procedures are
proclaimed but not implemented. A well-managed
office will have an office policies and procedures
manual that governs the day-to-day practice of law
and the related support operations.
Before accepting a new client, the firm must
perform a thorough conflict check to ensure that
there is no conflict of interest created by accepting
the new client matter. If a conflict is discovered, the
firm must either decline to accept the new client, or
obtain the consent of the both the old and the new
client to waive the conflict. Conflict checks are usu-
ally done with computers, so it is imperative that
client names be entered accurately and in various
formats so that no conflict is missed.
A law office docket is the firms calendar of
deadlines and important events. Of greatest con-
cern are the deadlines established by statute, court
rules, and court orders. The most critical is the
statute of limitations, since it can be exceedingly
difficult to obtain court approval to file a belated
lawsuit. The docket should also track deadlines for
discovery, dates of depositions and court appear-
ances, dates for closing escrow, etc. The docket
CHAPTER 11  Law Office Management and Procedures
also operates as a tickler system, to alert attorneys
and paralegals of an approaching deadline.
Law offices typically maintain at least six types
of files, including client files, billing records, per-
sonnel records, and correspondence unrelated to
specific client matters. A file is opened for each new
client matter. The same client may have multiple
client matters, and a separate file is kept for each.
There are two basic systems for organizing
client files: alphabetical and numerical. The alpha-
betical system is well-suited to a sole practitioner
and other small law offices. However, many larger
firms find it more useful to assign a unique number
to each client matter and maintain the files in nu-
merical order. The advantage of a numerical sys-
tem is that it can be set up to reveal additional in-
formation about each client matter: the date the
file was opened; the responsible attorney; the na-
ture of the legal matter; etc.
It is very common for the client and other law
offices to request copies of materials in a clients
file. Law offices should have a strict policy about
the release of client materialseven to the client,
herself. Most firms require that an attorneys ap-
proval be obtained to release any client materials.
This is intended to prevent the improper disclosure
of documents or information to outside parties. For
example, a client may unintentionally, and unwit-
tingly, waive the attorney-client privilege by show-
ing a document to someone else. Some firms give
legal secretaries or paralegals standing authority to
release certain categories on non-sensitive docu-
ments (e.g., pleadings which have been filed with a
court).
Eventually, most client files become inactive. It
makes no sense to consume large amounts of office
space with file cabinets or boxes of inactive files.
The solution is to close any file that has been inac-
tive for a defined period of time and is not ex-
pected to become active again within the coming
year. Closed files are usually stored in a different
location where they are secure and protected by
automatic sprinklers. Eventually, the firm may of-
fer to deliver the file to the clients possession,
with notice that the file will be destroyed if the
client declines to accept it. Files are destroyed by
shredding. Companies which specialize in the stor-
age and destruction of confidential files will pro-
vide written certification of their destruction.
When legal assistants use any mode of external
communications (e.g., telephone, e-mail, facsimile,
U.S. Mail, or commercial delivery services) three
considerations must be kept in mind:
STUDY GUIDE  245
confidentiality and security;
clarity of the communication; and,
professional tone of the communication.
The most important of these is confidentiality and
security. Clarity is essential so that the message
will be understood. A professional tone causes the
recipient to give the message his serious attention.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. New employees are generally considered to
be __________ employees, which means that
the employment relationship can be
terminated at any time by either the
employee or the employer.
2. There are four circumstances under which an
employer may not terminate an employee
without good cause:
when a statute prohibits some form of
__________ dismissal;
when __________ does not permit an
arbitrary dismissal;
when the employee and the employer have
agreed upon an __________ period of
employment, with termination to be for
cause only; or,
when the employer and employee have
agreed upon a __________ period of
employment, with termination to be for
cause only.
3. In employment law, __________ cause is a
principle requiring an honest and reasonable
basis for the discipline or dismissal of an
employee. This principle does not apply,
however, unless it is established by statute or
an employment contract.
4. During a __________ period, one is a true at-
will employee. After satisfactory completion
of that period, however, the employer has by
implication created a different status.
5. Every firm should carry __________
insurance, also known as an errors and
omissions policy.
6. In recent decades, sole practitioners and
small law partnerships have gravitated
toward a __________ style of law firm which
specializes in one or two areas of practice.
7. Partners who receive a share of the profits
are known as __________ partners because
their ownership interest entitles them to that
share.
8. Larger law firms often establish an __________
committee of partners to oversee the
management of the firm.
9. A __________ law corporation can be a sole
practitioner or a law partnership organized as
a corporate entity. The primary advantage is
to limit the __________ of its attorney
stockholders.
10. Corporations that are frequently __________
are likely to maintain their own legal
department.
11. Corporations generally designate a particular
attorney to serve as the corporations
__________ counsel.
12. Corporate law paralegals generally maintain:
corporate __________;
__________ of the board of directors;
resolutions adopted by the __________;
__________ records; and,
__________ statements.
13. The client for most public agency attorneys is
the __________.
14. The client for a public defender is __________.
15. In the larger firms with a hundred or so
attorneys, a non-attorney legal administrator
may assume many of the responsibilities a
__________ has in mid-sized firms.
16. When a client hires an attorney, it is
customary for her to sign a __________
agreement, which identifies the legal matter
for which the attorney will represent her and
sets forth the fees she will pay for those
services.
17. Under a __________ fee agreement, the law
firm will be paid only if the client recovers
money. If the clients case is lost, the client
owes nothing and the law firm receives
nothing.
18. Unlike attorneys, legal assistants cannot
become __________, bringing in new client
business.
19. Before detailed bills are sent to the client, the
responsible attorney reviews them, and often
__________ (deletes) or __________
(reduces) some of the time billed by
attorneys and paralegals.
20. Client funds must be kept in a __________
account, separate from the law firms monies.
246 CHAPTER 11  Law Office Management and Procedures

21. When an attorney leaves the law firm, his general counsel
clients have three choices:
Your best effort definition:
__________;
__________; or,
Your revised definition:
__________.
22. A law firm docket is the firms calendar of
__________. limited liability corporation
23. There are two basic systems for organizing Your best effort definition:
client files, __________ and __________.

Your revised definition:

KEY TERMS
at-will employment
limited liability partnership
Your best effort definition:
Your best effort definition:

Your revised definition:

Your revised definition:

chief counsel
probationary employee
Your best effort definition:
Your best effort definition:

Your revised definition:

Your revised definition:

client trust account

retainer agreement
Your best effort definition:
Your best effort definition:

Your revised definition:

Your revised definition:

docket
Your best effort definition:
Your revised definition:
errors and omissions policy
Your best effort definition:
Your revised definition:
WORKING ON-LINE
Go to the Web site for the American Bar Association:
http://www.abanet.org
Follow the link for Legal & Professional Re-
sources and find your way to the page for the
ABAs Center for Professional Responsibility. From
there, select Formal Ethics Opinions Headnotes,
and review the headnotes that relate to law firm
management, the obligations of an attorney leav-
ing a law firm, and client fees.

executive committee
ETHICAL CHALLENGE
Your best effort definition:
Eartha Jankowski recently left the law firm of Ar-
don & Fillips and moved to Marsh, Muntz &
Your revised definition: Cubana. Her new firm is defending a client, XBO
Corporation, against a lawsuit brought by a share-
STUDY GUIDE  247
holder who is a client of Ardon & Fillips. Although
Ardon does not represent that client in this partic-
ular matter, Earthas new firm has erected an eth-
ical wall to isolate Eartha from any possible expo-
sure to the lawsuit. The firm even notified the
court of the situation and without objection from
Ardon, the court approved the precautions taken
at Marsh.
At a recent social gathering, Eartha ran into
friends from Ardon & Fillips and had a great time
catching up on the news. Later in the evening,
Eartha entered the ladies room just in time to hear
one Ardon secretary say to another, I hear the
client is hoping that XBO will just pay him to go
away. Jim even thinks the guy perjured himself in
his depo, but theres no way to be absolutely sure.
In confusion, Eartha quickly backed out the door
and mingled with the crowd.
What should Eartha do with this information?
ETHICAL ANALYSIS
Of course, this is a classic example of loose talk by
someone who should know better, but that doesnt
solve Earthas issue. As troubling as it may be to let
someone get away with perjury, Eartha has no
choice but to keep the incident to herself. She has
an ethical duty to Ardon, her former employer, to
keep confidential anything she learned about their
clients. Although this new knowledge has been ac-
quired after leaving Ardon, Eartha would have to
violate the court-approved ethical wall to commu-
nicate the information to anyone at Marsh. She
might even jeopardize Marshs continued repre-
sentation of its client if the court were somehow to
learn of her disclosure.
READING CASE LAW
The full text of In re Micheel, 610 A.2d 231 (D.C.
1992) follows. A hearing committee of the District
of Columbia Bar found that attorney Micheel had
misappropriated client funds and recommended
his suspension from the practice of law for two
months. The Board on Professional Responsibility
accepted the committees finding of misappropria-
tion, but recommended disbarment. The U.S. Court
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit adopted the Boards
recommendation. The threshold issue before the
court was whether the Board should have deferred
to the hearing committees finding that the misap-
propriation was negligent, not dishonest conduct.
As a general rule, an appellate court considers
questions of law and procedure, the facts having
been determined, once and for all. In this case, how-
ever, the Court of Appeals distinguishes between
subsidiary findings of basic facts and findings of
ultimate facts. The court equates the latter to con-
clusions of law, which makes them reversible.
Read Micheel with special attention to the
courts reasoning regarding the nature of Micheels
misconduct, which led it to order his disbarment.
ANSWERS TO REVIEW
QUESTIONS
1. New employees are generally considered to
be at-will employees, which means that the
employment relationship can be terminated
at any time by either the employee or the
employer.
2. There are four circumstances under which an
employer may not terminate an employee
without good cause:
when a statute prohibits some form of
discriminatory dismissal;
when public policy does not permit an
arbitrary dismissal;
when the employee and the employer have
agreed upon an indefinite period of
employment, with termination to be for
cause only; or,
when the employer and employee have
agreed upon a definite period of
employment, with termination to be for
cause only.
3. In employment law, just cause is a principle
requiring an honest and reasonable basis for
the discipline or dismissal of an employee.
This principle does not apply, however,
unless it is established by statute or an
employment contract.
4. During a probationary period, one is a true at-
will employee. After satisfactory completion
of that period, however, the employer has by
implication created a different status.
5. Every firm should carry professional liability
insurance, also known as an errors and
omissions policy.
6. In recent decades, sole practitioners and
small law partnerships have gravitated
toward a boutique style of law firm which
specializes in one or two areas of practice.
7. Partners who receive a share of the profits
are known as equity partners, because their
ownership interest entitles them to that
share.
248 CHAPTER 11  Law Office Management and Procedures

8. Larger law firms often establish an executive sets forth the fees she will pay for those
committee of partners to oversee the services.
management of the firm. 17. Under a contingency fee agreement, the law
9. A professional law corporation can be a sole firm will be paid only if the client recovers
practitioner or a law partnership organized as money. If the clients case is lost, the client
a corporate entity. The primary advantage is owes nothing and the law firm receives
to limit the personal liability of its attorney nothing.
stockholders. 18. Unlike attorneys, legal assistants cannot
10. Corporations that are frequently sued are become rainmakers, bringing in new client
likely to maintain their own legal department. business.
11. Corporations generally designate a particular 19. Before detailed bills are sent to the client, the
attorney to serve as the corporations general responsible attorney reviews them, and often
counsel. writes off (deletes) or writes down
12. Corporate law paralegals generally maintain: (reduces) some of the time billed by
attorneys and paralegals.
corporate by-laws;
20. Client funds must be kept in a trust account,
minutes of the board of directors;
separate from the law firms monies.
resolutions adopted by the board of
21. When an attorney leaves the law firm, his
directors;
clients have three choices:
shareholder records; and,
Go with the departing attorney;
proxy statements.
Stay with the law firm; or,
13. The client for most public agency attorneys is
Choose new legal counsel.
the employing agency.
22. A law firm docket is the firms calendar of
14. The client for a public defender is the
deadlines and important events.
individual he is defending.
23. There are two basic systems for organizing
15. In the larger firms with a hundred or so
client files, alphabetical and numerical.
attorneys, a non-attorney legal administrator
may assume many of the responsibilities a
managing partner has in mid-sized firms.
16. When a client hires an attorney, it is
customary for her to sign a retainer
agreement, which identifies the legal matter
for which the attorney will represent her and
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